NEW YORK – “[S]ales during the shortened holiday season appeared to have been decent,” Advertising Age reported, with post-Christmas promotions helping to move inventory.
The promotion-heavy efforts underscored the steep challenges retailers experienced this shortened holiday season, during which they had to “pound the sales button,” according to Morningstar equity analyst Paul Swinand.
"It has been a very promotional and — as some sites and data points suggested — it's been a tough holiday season,” Swinand said. “Everyone was banging the sale drum hard from very early on, but I'm not predicting any disasters really, despite a whole bunch of extenuating circumstances."
According to Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation, overall holiday sales for November and December are expected to achieve a 3.9% year-over-year increase.
Small appliances were a boon for some retailers, said Tom Blischol, chief retail strategist at Booz & Co., along with electronics, hand tools, video games and bedding.
He expects Macy's, Best Buy, Target, Amazon, and Walmart to report strong sales, though the deals were so good, “Retailers are going to struggle this year to show year-over-year increases in [profit] margins,” he said.
Between Christmas and New Year's, gift cards drove spending. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs' consumer tracking survey, average share of total holiday spending in the form of gift cards rose to a record 23.7%.
"It means that the 'extended season' — the weeks after Christmas into January — will play an important role in the final tally of the season's performance," said Michael Niemira, VP-research at the ICSC.
In-store traffic last month rose 8.6% year-over-year, according to retail analytics firm Euclid, driven by promotions. "In the face of challenges including unfavorable weather and a shortened shopping season, the retailers that fared the best this holiday were the ones that invested in their omni-channel capabilities to win the competition for consumers' attention," Euclid said.
Mobile and online shopping sales rose sharply for the quarter, up 10.3% for the period ending December 31. Among all digital sales, mobile generated 16.6% of the total, up 46% from 2012. Tablets made up 11.5% of all online sales, more than double that of smartphones.